Quests of the Owl Rogue
by squibblyquill
Summary: Sarah is now hardly recognizable as the once innocent young girl of the Labyrinth. Trapped for years in the Underground, for reasons not immediately clear, she has found a possible way to escape and reclaim her world. But it will require compromise, danger, real risk, and the possibility of facing an old enemy. Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth.
1. The Owl Rogue

**A/N: Sorry I have too many unfinished longer-ish stories here. I may indeed finish one some day, but it really depends where the interest is - mine and my readers. Anyway, enjoy! Also, Labyrinth and its characters are not mine.**

"Who are you?" A stern and lofty voice demanded without compunction.

"I am the Owl Rogue, and I seek your assistance," I uttered, hand twitching with nothing to grasp. They had taken my blade and several smaller precious companions.

His long boots clicked and crossed above me on his leaf embroidered dais. Curling the hem of his green robe over his gloved fingers, his eyes drilled down into my forehead, sizing me up, discernment oozing like liquid fire from baited breath.

"I've heard of you," he uttered at length, "It seems you've made a name for yourself."

Knowing now the game of lords and leaders, I bowed my head, keeping silent until he addressed me with a specific question.

"However, it is rather rash to assume that having won some infamy you would be well served to present yourself in my court."

I clenched my jaw and kept my head down. All was not lost, Entrinar must assert his power in a display of dominance befitting his reputation. My task was simply not to let him shake my nerves. If he saw any sign of weakness, I knew I would quickly regret it. My eyes snuck a glance at the armed guards lining each side of his throne room. Palms sweating, I bit my tongue and waited.

"Well, don't just sit there like a mute mule, state your business. What do you hope to gain by barging through my wooded hills and being a nuisance?"

I slowly drew my breath. This would have to come out right or I'd lose serious ground, "There are members of your kingdom who seek employment. I come on their behalf."

My head was still bowed, so I could only hear the gasp and the resettling of finely tailored cloth on the dais at my statement.

"You act on behalf of my subjects, then? Really, now who would have suspected this! Tell me, to what gain? And what sort of employment do these renegades desire that they have to use some dark horse like you to get their business done?!" While he scoffed, the images and voices of my friends returned to me. I thought of Lotti and Scabbard. Dink and Bunyon. It was a silly occupation considering who I was and where I came from, and yet, I took courage with the knowledge there was nothing else I'd rather do. I raised my head, swallowing hard. His eyes caught mine. I noticed the elegant symmetry of his cheekbones, the strong jaw, and piercing eyes.

"How do I know you're not a spy?" He drawled, tone replete with menace.

I had waited too long to respond. He'd already charged me with an accusation. Not yet dispirited, I dared to meet the challenge.

"If you would but meet the subjects on whose behalf I speak, my Lord, you would understand that they pose no threat to your lofty reign."

"Name them." He gritted darkly.

"They are nobodies. Jobless, but talented. Good hearts. Give them a chance," pausing I realized I must name them. Praying he would not retaliate against my friends before hearing me out, I answered, "Lotti the Little, Scabbard the Scrub, Dink the Dormouse, and Bunyon the Yarbriggle." A smile crept up my lips at Scrub's awkward loping gait, Dink's hopeful quivering nose and Bunyon's dirt bedraggled muzzle. The memory of Lotti's sweet eyes flashed for a split second—she had begged me to reconsider the present misadventure. Perhaps she had been the wiser of the two of us.

"Riffraff? That is what you thrust upon me? You must be joking. And to think I am to believe that you do this out of the goodness of your little scrawny human heart!"

I winced. I hadn't thought he'd recognize my race. But then, I lacked the luster of most of the royal fae, and certainly lacked a kingdom, so I should have guessed I made an obvious spectacle. Anyway, Entrinar's displeasure was spreading to the guards. I had to act fast.

Before anyone could stop me, I ripped the leather cord from my throat and threw it down on the ground between us. A large ruby, rough and set in silver shimmered in the torchlight.

"It is a kindness stone."

"I know what it is," he spat. Though the venom in his tone had retreated an inch or two.

"Then you know that my intentions must be pure if I hope to make proper use of its particular powers." I stood, ignoring one sore knee, and approached where the amulet lay. Entrinar seemed to percolate on the edge of his seat.

"How did you get it?"

"I found it."

"I'm afraid I'll have a hard time believing that."

"A dragon lent it to me."

"That sounds even less likely." Entrinar clenched the arm of his chair.

"It's true enough. If you don't believe me, ask the dragon yourself. His name is Hark. You may have heard of him." I pulled out another leather cord from my shirt; on it were strung two scintillating scales.

Entrinar paled, but checked his expression so as not to betray excessive surprise. His twitching jaw intimated the effort it took to keep a straight face. Long strands of brown, escaped from the royal braids, now stuck to the sweat moistening his temples.

A darkly robed figure stepped softly up from behind the dais. Immediately I recognized the face of Cortune, the current favorite among the clan of royal advisors. He eyed me silently and I searched for a hint that Dirk's connection might have worked. Had Cortune been expecting me as we'd hoped? Would he take my side?


	2. A Necessary Evil

**A/N: Watch out, this is a bit on the darker side.**

"Some say the power of the kindness stone exceeds the bounds that hold the worlds in place," a rich, soft voice rubbed like velvet over goose bump ridden skin. I had forgotten Dirk's warning about Cortune. Dink's Halfling owner Dirk had told me over a tavern swig that Cortune had quite an effect on the ladies, and well anyone really, if they weren't careful.

As his hand slipped further out of his sumptuous sleeve and closer to my wrist, I clenched my toes in my boots and remembered that he was Entrinar's favored counselor. For a moment a voice inside me mused at the temptation. True, perhaps if I were someone else, sleeping with the man would not only expedite business but also prove pleasurable. However, I had already seen the way he eyed everything in the room with infectious covetousness. Cortune's acquisitive curiosity was enough to keep my thoughts far from any bedroom. Or at least so I thought before his servants began carting in small quaffs of mead and fermented acorn sap to our little room of reception.

His face was rounder than Entrinar's, softer and more delicate. Hair was darker, rich lazy curls fell out over his robes instead of the tight braids of his ruler. Entrinar, with his leathery complexion and regimented air of dominance, was no doubt a man of the hunt, a man of action. Cortune's attitude was of insinuation, negotiation and fine breeding—a diplomat brat's litter through and through. But he did have sparkling, wide, hazel eyes that shimmered as they picked his interlocutor's façade to pieces.

He had poured me several small thimble cups of acorn liquor by the time he got around to sipping his first drought of mead. I knew it was practiced and considered myself lucky to only have downed three shots instead of ten by this point in our negotiation.

"You know I act on our Lord's behalf, but I must admit, I find it hard not to take personal interest in this case." The light moisture of his lips was struck by the flicker of an oil lamp dangling above us, and I nearly had to stamp my foot to shake the odd chill his advance evoked in me.

Dirk had warned me, but I only now began to realize how unprepared I was. Cortune had, as it had first seemed, saved the day and called for a closer inspection of the request before its consideration or rejection. Pointing to the kindness stone and my human face, he managed to appease Entrinar enough to obtain permission to question me himself in private. This he assured would allow him to provide a thorough and private report to his Lordship once he finished with me.

And so here I lounged on mats and cushions of mango orange, cherry red, gold, saffron, teal, and vibrant green and royal blue, as this fae sweet talked me into scandalous cordiality. Embarrassed, I thought of Lotti again. Perhaps she really had been right telling me to give up this mission.

"I can tell you're not like the humans of this world. There's something in the way you move, scan the room, something even in your scent now that I think of it…" he uttered, dangerously close, "I have a strong fascination for curiosities," he continued with a pregnant suggestion, "This stone you bring is quite extraordinary."

He fingered the ruby crystal once more before catching me with the honey fire of his irises.

"You'll have to tell me what you intend to use this for."

"Of course," I tried to sound casual, but it was nearly impossible to shake the tension building in the room, "You're right, you know," I wanted to kick myself for falling directly into his little role play, "I have a world I wish to return to."

His eyes brightened, and I shifted my hips. He was very close. The closer he got, the more comfortable he seemed, and the greater discomfort I experienced.

"Tell me about your world, ah…do you have a name then, child?" He asked silkily as he moved a piece of my hair out of my eye. All alarm bells were ringing, but I had no escape plan and the spirits were taking their toll.

"Diana," I lied. No one had used my real name in several years. I had no intention of letting him get ahold of it!

"Beautiful…" he breathed, "It fits." His grin unnerved me.

I tried to shift my weight and found myself clearly inebriated. When he leant over my shoulder and slid his finger down my neck, teasingly pushing away the collar at the shoulder, I knew what he would do next.

"Don't think…" He lowered his head to the newly exposed flesh, "Diana," letting his breath heat the spot, "That I believe…" he planted a savory kiss, "For one second that that is your real name." His face lifted and bore down on me with cold sophistication.

I gasped, paralyzed. He laughed softly and then kissed the other side of my neck.

"You'll have to do a lot more to convince me," he whispered in my ear.

"I'm not that kind of woman," I started. He laughed again.

There was a new glass of mead in my hand. His hand was hovering at my nape, lips caressing one ear with words I was almost too afraid to process.

"Oh no, my child, this is purely for pleasure. When it comes to convincing, I'm strictly business." With eyebrow still raised he moved in and let warm breath flood my earlobe.

"I swear to you, it's my name. I just want to go home and help my friends along the way. I found the stone after a long quest. I promise I'm not lying."

"You're quite selective in how you tell the truth then," he murmured before letting his mouth seal its hot moisture over a piece of my neck.

"I won't say my real name. I can't. I need my name to get home. Diana is my name. It's my new name. I'm not lying, please!"

"Oh, she pleads…" he smiled while undoing the ties binding my long brown tresses, "What are you afraid of? You don't seem to be putting up a fight. Scared you might enjoy talking to me?"

"I didn't come here to do this. I don't want to do thi…" before I finished my sentence, his mouth closed on mine, but he quickly relinquished me, much to my surprise.

"Are you sure? I'm sure it's been a long time since you've…"

Foggily I realized my hands were already clutched around his neck. I thought about letting go, but the feeling of hugging a warm body close to me was so intoxicating. His hair and flesh were mixing with mine along with his clean, inviting scent…


	3. Aftermath

**A/N: And now you're presumably wondering what sort of trouble our heroine got herself into right off the bat...**

Lotti eyed me with wretched pity, gratitude and burning curiosity.

Clearing her throat as I started making my bed in the upstairs corner of the hollow tree trunk we called home, she began, "So um, did he…I mean, did you two…?"

"Not gonna talk about it Lotti. Some things we aren't going to talk about."

"I know it's bad form to say I told you so," her high pitched voice trembled, unsure of herself.

"Look, we got what we needed, and I promise, I didn't lose ALL my dignity in one night."

"Yes, yes, how did m'Lady lose her dignity, if you please!" squealed an overly ambitious Scabbard. Oh it would be just like him to take an interest in such filthy business. His wide crocodile grin leapt up from the stairs below.

"Scabbard, leave her be!" Bunyon hollered from the kitchen downstairs.

Dink shifted on the straw mat in the other corner, yawning as he tried to wake up and better follow the conversation.

"Look, you all have jobs now. Don't hear anyone complaining about that!" I blinked some water in my eyes away as I felt the empty place on my breast where the amulet used to hang.

Cortune had kept it. That was how we sealed the bargain. The power had already bonded to me, so my actions would continue to feed it. But I'd have to get it back from him somehow, and I was unsure as to how simple the retrieval process would eventually prove.

I hadn't lost all my dignity that night, but I had come pretty damn close. He'd told me he'd find out my name by prying in to the amulet's powers. The amulet should carry my secret since it had bonded to me. And if it was not fully charged before he pried my secret from it, then the power would be his to wield and not mine. With me drunk and struggling not to pant while glued to his chest, he calmly explained everything while stroking my hair and undoing the ties at my collar.

When after what seemed an eternity of drunken angst, he'd reached down into my modest cleavage, I'd moaned but kept enough presence of mind to knee him in the robes. Growling and yet unable to disentangle myself, I'd huffed as he'd chuckled and announced his verdict: My friends had been granted work in the court, but it would be hard. Cortune was to keep the amulet indefinitely. With sweaty brow and clouded vision, I remember nodding and then receiving a luxuriant kiss over my half open lips. I think I must have fallen asleep on him. I awoke to him leaving and the room briskly cooling with night air. It had gotten so stuffy at that point, I'm astonished I hadn't simply suffocated.

Even now, an hour or so after the fact, I was still feeling anything but myself. I just prayed I hadn't done anything ridiculous that I could no longer remember. Or hoped that he hadn't done anything while I was asleep. God knows. This faery tale business was a lot dirtier than I'd ever planned. And heaven knows this wasn't the first surprise.


End file.
